T.I. recently released some of his first new music since finishing his legal issues, and sparked some conversation between fans online, with lines directed towards fellow Atlanta rapper Shawty Lo.

While he admits, while speaking with MTV recently, that there are some references to the rapper on the new track "No Matter What," he explains that the song, in its entirety, is not about the D4L member.

On the track, T.I. directly references one of Lo's catchphrases, "Let's get, get, get it" from his hit single "Dey Know." According to the King of the South, he was only retaliating for what he says have been ongoing subliminal jabs from the rapper.

On T.I.'s new track, he spits, "[I] set the standard in Atlanta of how to 'get, get, get it' / So you up-and-coming rappers wanna dis, just kill it / I'm officially the realest, point-blank, period."

However, there's another few lines that really caused talk among fans: "They couldn't wait to say, 'Good night, shawty' / So they could try to rhyme, act and look like shawty / Go get a beat from Toomp and make a hook like shawty / Before you know it, I'm back / What it look like, shawty?"

Despite using the word "shawty" several times throughout that verse, T.I. tells MTV that it's not about his ATL peer.

"Just because I say 'shawty' -- anybody who holds a conversation with me knows that 'shawty' is just in my vocabulary," T.I. said. "I wasn't speaking to him throughout the record. I was speaking on people who took shots at me when I was down. He wasn't the only one; he was among the most consistent. But I'm focused on a greater goal. I'm not trippin' on that. Dude, that's not what's on my mind. I said what I had to say, and that's it. Whoever don't like it, so what?"

Despite an obvious minor rivalry, T.I. explained that beef is not what he's looking for at all, saying "I'm too old for that sh**."

Plies is nothing if not hard working. The Florida rapper just finished recording his sophomore project, Definition of Real, due June 10th, and already has a date marked on the calendar for his third release, The Realest, set to hit shelves December 16th. His latest records, “Who Hotter Than Me” and “Bust It Baby Pt. 2″ are getting love in the streets and the radio.

According to the Fort Myers goon, his new album won’t vary much from his Gold-certified debut. “I’m the same dude before I made The Real Testament, so I guess my mentality and my mind state is pretty much 85 percent the same,” he said. “Now I’ve kind of learned a little bit more that comes with being successful. To diversify my music and still give you the female looks. “I tell people all the time, I’m not mad all the time,” Plies continued. “I have interests toward women, I have interests in cats that’s locked….With this [new] album, the formula is the same.”

Two new tracks from Definition of Real that Plies is particularly fond of are “One Day” and “Die Together.” The latter is dedicated to his brother who’s currently incarcerated. “Musically, I’m cool with everything, “Plies explained. “But I don’t wake up everyday happy to be a part of it. Because there’s so much real stuff in my life everyday that affects me and means more to me everyday.” In addition to his brother’s situation, Plies is also dealing with is grandmother’s illness; she’s currently on dialysis.

In the meantime, Plies said he continues to work and hopes to stay on top as long as he can. “I’m a part of a culture where they only allow you to win for so long, at some point, just like with the Bulls and the Yankes, people don’t even know why they want you to lose, they just do. Like with the Patriots, why wouldn’t you want them to be 19-0? You would be a part of history. But just because they dominated one particular area of life, people just weren’t cool with that. To me that’s weird, how can you dislike someone that’s good? I thought you were suppose to disllke someone because they’re bad? Like, get out of here. But how do you dislike people for being at the top of their game?”

A family member of Nick Cannon has confirmed that the 27 year-old actor/rapper did marry R&B diva Mariah Carey.

Linda Cannon, an alleged Cannon family member, told E! Nick informed her of the news, "Yes, we know. He called us and told us all about it," she stated. "We are happy for him. If that is what he wants, then we are happy for him."

She added, "I'm not going to give you any details, but we are happy for him."

Speculation began earlier this week and was fueled when Mariah, 39 was spotted wearing an engagement ring similar to the one Cannon gave his ex-fiancée and Victoria Secret model, Selita Ebanks. Ironically, Cannon also plays Mariah's love interest in the video for her latest single, "Bye Bye."

According to Latina magazine, the pair wed on Wednesday (Apr. 30) in a "very impulsive ceremony." Rapper Da Brat, a long time friend of Mariah is said to have been in attendance.

This marks the second marriage for Carey who wed Columbia Records executive Tommy Mottola in 1993. Their marriage lasted five years. Cannon has never been married before and called off his engagement to Selita Ebanks last year.

Jay-Z's history making deal with concert promoter Live Nation was reportedly finalized yesterday (May 1).

As reported earlier, Jay-Z and Live Nation were negotiating a ten year $150 million deal which will finance the rapper’s record label, his upcoming tours and various endorsements and investments.

As part of the deal, Jay-Z would have to drop three albums during the 10 years. Each advance for the albums will be $10 million. The rapper’s current co-headlining tour with singer Mary J Blige is also part of the agreement.

Jay-Z will be splitting his profits with Live Nation.

According to Billboard, Live Nation filed a Form-8k with the SEC Thursday which states that Jay-Z will be getting 750,000 Live Nation shares, plus an option on an additional 500,000 with the exercise price of $13.73.

(L note: If your a long time reader of this site, you know by now that I'm not a fan of Lil Wayne. however I gotta say i respect lil dude's hustle, and I think 50, in his own special way touched on something I've been saying about Wayne for years. For all the incoherent nonsense he spits, and all the lean he sips. Wayne is Smarter than i think alot of people give him credit for. He truly understands your only as good as your last hit. So he keeps putting music out, no matter how horrible it may sound to me, he floods the market. He stays embedded in the minds of the causal hip hop fan. So naturally the 1st name a fan spits when saying talking about there favorite rapper is the name of the guy they hear the most. Lil Wayne.)

Internet blogger/TV personality Perez Hilton will join Miss Jones’ Morning Show next week on New York Hip-Hop station Hot 97.

Hilton, who was labeled the #1 web celebrity by Forbes Magazine in 2007, will join Miss Jones starting May 5th.

The gossip blogger will provide Miss Jones with the “Hot 97 Perez Hilton Update,” which is a minute long synopsis of the latest celebrity gossip that will air everyday at 8:00 am.

“Perez Hilton is an amazing personality with unprecedented Hollywood access, and making him part of the HOT 97 family adds another dimension to the legendary HOT 97 brand,” said Ebro Darden, HOT 97 Program Director.

(L note: Perez does it again. This is a major move. Now if only i can get 103 to do the same for me. lol)

Common is currently gearing up for the release of his eighth solo album titled Invincible Summer.

The Chicago bred rapper revealed to Billboard that the album will feature production from The Neptunes and Outkast producer Mr. DJ.

“I created this music for the summer time, it's about feeling good,” Common explained about the album. “This is the type of music I felt was missing from my body of work.”

Common also revealed that Kanye West, who has supplied beats for two of his last albums, wasn’t able to contribute to the new project because of his ongoing tour.

“Kanye was focusing on his 'Glow in the Dark' show, so he hasn't been able to make it to the studio to weigh in,” Common said. “But it worked out well, organically. The Neptunes & Mr. DJ came up with a fresh sound for me.”

Common plans to release the album’s first single, “Universal Mind Control (U.M.C.)”, in May.

Lil Wayne has signed on to co-star in a new major motion picture starring Forest Whitaker, titled The Patriots.

Wayne began filming for the movie in his hometown of New Orleans earlier this week.

The Patriots is about a basketball team that was assembled of players who attended five different high schools before Hurricane Katrina devastated the city of New Orleans.

Lil Wayne has been tapped to play a character named “Lamont,” a student of Al Collins High School who is skeptical of the newly formed team. Whitaker, who is currently on the big screen alongside Common and The Game in the movie Street Kings, plays the coach of the team who is attempting to lead the team to a state championship.

(L note: This is Hilarious to me on so many levels, But can wayne even ball?)

Apr 30, 2008

Salaam Remi is onboard to score a Mike Tyson documentary directed by James Toback (“Black and White,” “Bugsy”) that will feature a new song by Nas called “Legendary.”

The doc is set to premiere at the Cannes International Film Festival in May and be released as early as this summer. The embattled boxer will narrate his life’s story, according to the music producer. “It’s really chilling, ” Remi told XXL.

In addition to the Tyson documentary, Remi is finishing up music for the “Sex and The City” movie. He’s serving as the executive music producer for the film and has worked with Fergie, Jennifer Hudson, and collaborative effort between Josh Stone and Al Green.

Following reports of Akon's fraudulent criminal past, Kardinal Offishall, Konvict Music signee, wanted to set the record straight on the allegations.

As previously reported, Akon's streed cred was recently put into question when The Smoking Gun released the Grammy award winning artist's rap sheet. The report discounted the singer's claims to having spent years in prison for heading an infamous car-theft ring.

According to Kardinal, the reason Akon's criminal record doesn't reflect the troubled past the singer has depicted on wax may be because the R&B star spent a lot of money to have his record cleared.

"When I first met Kon, I didn't know he wasn't allowed into Canada because of the criminal record that he had," Kardinal admitted. "Now he's able to travel to Canada, Australia, to all types of different places, because he spends a lot of money to have his record expunged."

"What that means is that there's no way Akon could travel unless he was able to deal with his record and get a lot of that removed," he continued, "he wouldn't be able to be such a big international artist if he didn't get it removed."

At that same time Kardinal thinks the media spends too much time dwelling on the negative.

"It doesn't matter who you are, whether you're a rapper, singer or actress it really seems that everything is just designed to try and pull people down," Kardinal explained. "The thing that I like about Akon is that it seems as if he's bulletproof because no matter what is thrown at him, he's able to deal with it."

Kardinal has a message to the media when dealing with such issues.

"Instead of worrying about how real his criminal past has been, they should report on the stuff that he's done now, providing aid to Senegal or working with Wyclef to aid folks in Haiti," he added. "They don't report on that sh*t. They just worry about how real he's keeping it and how many years he did in jail."

(L Note: Here's My thing, If you had you record Expunged, You might not wanna talk about it all the time)

Marvel's new Iron Man film hits theaters this week and despite early reports that Wu-Tang rapper, Ghostface Killah, would make a cameo appearance in the flick, it has discovered that he's nowhere to be found in the final version.

"Marvel and Paramount eliminated the story line that led to Ghostface's scene in Dubai," a spokesperson for Ghostface said. "Robert Downey Jr. [who plays Iron Man] was having a party in Dubai where he runs into Ghostface and they have some dialogue, an exchange about lending each other yachts and Bentleys."

To make up for the disappointment of landing on the cutting room floor, Iron Man director Jon Favreau put in a call to Ghost himself to apologize, smoothing things over by making sure to keep a touch of Ghostface in the film by adding some musical elements.

"After the change John Favreau called apologizing and made a quick fix by licensing the 'Celebrate' video," Ghost's rep said. "Then Def Jam allowed us to replace the music with an original song for the movie, which all happened within 3 days and 5 days before [the] final edit."

Ghost's affinity for Iron Man has been hugely evident throughout his career, thanks to the Staten Island MC's adoption of Tony Stark - the super hero's real identity - as an alter ego as well as his decision to title his solo debut Ironman.

A Brooklyn volunteer ambulance service is reportedly planning to take legal action against Papoose for duping them into participating in a music video.

According to The New York Daily News, Bed-Stuy Volunteer Ambulance claims that Papoose involved them in his video “Ambulance”, which targets fellow Brooklyn rapper Uncle Murda, by claiming the song praised their services.

“His people told us the video would be about the neighborhood and how we respond to save lives,” Rocky Robinson, founder of Bed-Stuy Volunteer Ambulance, told The Daily News. “We don't want to be a part of something where somebody gets hurt. Our image is everything to us.”

Apr 27, 2008

In a new blog on her MySpace page, the Brooklyn emcee thanks all of her fans for their support and gives salutations to hip-hop, with a finalizing tone.

“It's been a wonderful and awful journey all at the same time. Mostly leaning towards the wonderful part..lol. Thank you for letting me share what I could with you and sharing yourselves back, as you have really been the reason that I kept on,” she types. “I will always love what I consider to be true hip hop music... from the bottom of my soul. I hope you will continue to distinguish those who are contributors to the evolution of Hip Hop and other black music as both an auditory stimulation and a culture, taking care that they are put in a position to do so.”

Her profile name on MySpace has also been changed to “Jean Grae Saying Peace Out,” and her only remaining profile picture is of her apparently blowing a kiss goodbye.

Jean Grae joined Blacksmith Music, Talib Kweli’s label imprint under Warner Bros, in September 2005. She was set to formally release Jeanius, the heavily-bootlegged and delayed album produced entirely by 9th Wonder, later this year.

(HHDX)

(L note: Say it aint so Jean. I've said on several occasions that Jean is the best female M.C. out today, so this would be a sad day to see her leave the game. Maybe she'll do like her namesake and comeback as The Phoenix or better yet Dark Phoenix. The Dark Phoenix Saga does sound like a great album title, She could come back all Gangsta and start ridin on cats, lol.)

First Deshawn Stevenson of the Washington Wizards called LeBron James “overrated.” Then ‘Bron ‘Bron responded by telling media his responding to Stevenson’s comment would be like “Jay-Z responding to Soulja Boy.”

The two went at it during the first three games of their playoff series with James almost single handedly defeating the Wiz in games 1 and 2. Stevenson and company regrouped to take game 3, even inviting Soulja Boy, who was in attendance. But leading up to game 4, James brought in reinforcements.

According to the Washington Post, Hov has recorded a track for LeBron aimed at Stevenson and the Wizards. The song premiered at D.C. night spot Love on Friday night; the same location Wizards guard Gilbert Arenas celebrated his 25th birthday last year with a million-dollar bash. James hosted the party and he and teammates had fun at Stevenson’s expense.

Stevenson, however, didn’t take too kind to word of the song. “When I had Soulja Boy here, it was on the court. It was nothing disrespecting him or his family or even foul language,” he told the newspaper. “So I’m boycotting Love. Everybody on our team, we’re boycotting Love…. We’re not going no more. But I appreciate Jay-Z for giving me the shout out.”

(L note: Hov' must be bored,this makes no sense. Didn't you just get married? don't you got a honeymoon or something? in the words of my homie Tekniq, "any time a giant fights a midget, the giant loses." but i gotta give a shot out to jay for showing love to Oakland.)